Journal Notes

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Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Ladies from the Old West.

From the February 4, 1875 edition of the California Alta News comes a warning to men to safeguard themselves from wicked women. The article is referring to women gamblers and soiled doves, several of which are included in the book Wicked Women.  “There have been desperately wicked women in this world of ours, from the days of sacred story to the present moment. They have shown sometimes the cool and calculating villainy of the poisoner and forger, but more often the rabid, eccentric, self-destroying wickedness of the weak. “You men know what an enraged lamb will do,” said a keen, observer. Women are not lambs always, but a certain amount of wickedness appears in the most desperate of them. In the first place, that type of woman “staying power” — but the absence of the inertia of strength, whichever prevents such females from rising to successful eminence, that inability of the muscles to serve the exactions of the brain— is real. Conscience and decency come back in a woman after they‘ve lied and snared their prey; her courage in all scenes of danger is proverbial; and it is pathetic to read of the last hours of the most desperate female criminals, to see the womanly virtues appearing as the crust of an unworthy life is being broken, to hear their prayers, witness their generosity, admire their fortitude, and notice then determination to be well or decently. But it is not real – they are wicked.”

To learn about wicked women on the wild frontier read

Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Ladies from the Old West.

National Book Launch on February 21, 2015 from Noon to 2 p.m. at the

Nevada County Railroad Museum in Nevada City, California.

Enter now to win a copy of the new book

Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Ladies from the Old West.

In February 1881, desperate women in a North Dakota town waged war against soiled doves that stood out on the streets enticing their husbands or fiancés inside their businesses. They made signs and marched in front of the “wicked women’s” parlors and gave interviews to the local newspapers expressing their displeasure with the madams and their bawdy establishments. “Pure women cannot understand how wicked women rejoice in mashing hearts they do not care for; in ruining young men’s lives for a petty triumph,” one overwrought wife and mother or three told a reporter for the Bismark Tribune. “We want to see an end to such enticements and maintain a faithful home,” the woman added. “If the wicked women are allowed to stay we are, all of us, doomed.”

To learn about wicked women on the wild frontier read

Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Ladies from the Old West.

National Book Launch on February 21, 2015 from Noon to 2 p.m. at the

Nevada County Railroad Museum in Nevada City, California.

Don’t wait! Enter now to win a copy of the new book

Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Ladies from the Old West.

According to the July 9, 1895 edition of a Sacramento newspaper, “wicked women” Cora Rasmussen and Joan Burdette were fined $100 each in the Police Court for conducting gambling games. Cora pleaded guilty. Joan Burdette, arrested for a similar offense, was found guilty. Sentence will be imposed tomorrow. “We must do what we can to rid this city of such action by the female sex, or society as we know it will be lost,” said Officer Horace Matthews who arrested the above mentioned wicked lady gamblers.

To learn more about the wicked women on the wild frontier read

Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Ladies from the Old West.

National Book Launch on February 21, 2015 from Noon to 2 p.m. at the

Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum in Nevada City, California.

Take a chance. Enter now to win a copy of the new book

Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Ladies from the Old West.

Poker Alice running a card game in Deadwood

Polite society in the 1800s referred to women who owned and operated their own gambling dens as “wicked.” But America’s oldest diversion deteriorated into a vice without the help of lady gamblers. In the turn of a card or the roll of a dice for all or nothing, there was a kind of daring that touched the American spirit. “The lust for work is matched…by the lust to gamble.” The affluent risked thousands in comfort; the poor risked bread money on gaming tables in slum taverns.

The gambling fever produced two opposing species. First were the predatory card sharps and confidence men and women who understood human weakness and how to exploit it; second were the masses, eternally gullible to the lure of something for nothing. Throughout the nation these adversaries met – in lotteries, over tables, at racetracks, in casinos, cockpits – and the result was nearly always the same. The suckers lost.

In 1870, San Francisco had an estimated 2,500 gambling houses, which produced as they did elsewhere, crime and degradation. And while these are hardly the by-products one would expect of a leisure activity, it should be remembered that vice can become a pastime for people who had little alternative resources.

To learn more about the wicked women on the wild frontier read

Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Ladies from the Old West.

National Book Launch on February 21, 2015.

It’s a wicked giveaway. Enter now to win a copy of the new book

Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Ladies from the Old West.

Early review of Wicked Women from NetGalley.com. When one thinks of the Wild American West, one likely thinks of names like Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and Wild Bill Hickock. Only slightly less remembered are names like Calamity Jane and Big Nose Kate. In most saloons across the Western States women called many of the shots at the card tables and many ran the brothels as Madams. In Chris Enss’ new book, Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous and Wayward Ladies from the Old West the tales of some of the most scandalous women of the day come forward to take their place at the table.

Enss compiles tales from San Francisco to Deadwood, and all the places in between. Women like Squirrel Tooth Alice (named for her pet prairie dogs), Tessie Walls and Belle Cora lead houses of ill repute and gambling better than any man of their day. What they all seemed to succumb to was the love of a wicked man. Many of the women started out as mothers and homemakers, only to be left completely alone when their man skipped out on them or died at the hands of the law. These women took matters into their own hands, and by doing so their incomes.

Enss’ writing is comprehensive, as well as sympathetic. While she never hides the crimes of these women, she does tell of them in an entertaining way that finds the reader nose deep in the book and unable to turn away. It is difficult to put down Wicked Women and even more difficult not to talk to those around you about it.

Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous and Wayward Ladies from the Old West is a delightful look into the Old American West for those who want to read a history that isn’t just menfolk at the OK Corral.

To learn more about the wicked women on the wild frontier read

Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Ladies from the Old West.

National Book Launch on February 21, 2015.

Something wicked is on the way.  Enter now to win a copy of the new book

Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Ladies from the Old West.

“A man dressed in overalls and heavy shoes, with faded hat and bony hands are not to be feared unless he is drunk. Such a man will not steal and will work if he has work to do. It is the slick gentlemanly sneak, who tries to dress well, smokes cigarettes and opium, gambles when he has a stake, associates with soiled doves by day, living off their shameful earnings, and burglarizing residence by night. A proper distribution of muscle and a little birdshot would be the best treatment for such depraved men and their wicked women.”

The Daily Californian – October 29, 1882

To learn more about the wicked women on the wild frontier read

Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Ladies from the Old West.

National Book Launch on February 21, 2015.

Congratulations to James Darnell, Melissa Mitchell, and Sheryl Kirksey.

All are winners of a copy of the book

The Cowboy and the Senorita:  A Biography of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

Last chance to enter to win a copy of The Cowboy and the Senorita:

A Biography of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and

Happy Trails: A Pictorial Celebration of the Life and Times of

Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

In the fall of 1947 Roy proposed to Dale as he sat on Trigger. The pair was performing at a rode in Chicago, and moments before their big entrance Roy suggested they get married. The date set for the wedding was New Year’s Eve. Gossip columnists predicted that Trigger would be the best man and that Dale would wear a red-sequined, cowgirl gown. The prediction proved to be false.

Roy and Dale’s wedding was a simple affair held at a ranch in Oklahoma, which happened to be the location for the filming of their seventeenth movie, Home in Oklahoma. The couple’s agent, Art Rush, served as best man and his wife, Mary Jo, was the matron of honor.

To learn more about Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, and Trigger enter to win now and Happy Trails.

Time is running out! Enter to win a copy of The Cowboy and the Senorita:

A Biography of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and

Happy Trails: A Pictorial Celebration of the Life and Times of

Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

On July 12, 1943, Roy Rogers and his trusty palomino, Trigger, appeared on the cover of Life magazine. The overwhelming success of Roy’s movies had made him the biggest box-office draw in the country.

On average, Roy made eight pictures a year, and in between productions he traveled around the country promoting his work. He sometimes made six appearance a day at various theatres where his movies were playing. Audiences would fill the seats of the movie houses, Roy and the Sons of the Pioneers would sing a few songs, and then his film would run.

Trigger accompanied Roy on all his promotional trips. Roy had acquired Trigger in 1938 when the horse was a yearling and, with the aid of a professional trainer, he brought the animal into prominence.

Along with information about his home life, the origin of the singing cowboy’s name was revealed in the Life article. Studio executives had given Leonard Slye, also known as Dick Weston (a name Leonard picked himself and used as his professional name for a short time), the handle of Rogers in 1937, after the famous humorist Will Rogers, and Roy, which means “king.” The two stage names fit together perfectly.

To learn more about Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, and Trigger enter to win now and Happy Trails.

Enter to win a copy of The Cowboy and the Senorita:

A Biography of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and

Happy Trails: A Pictorial Celebration of the Life and Times of

Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

There’s almost nothing more important to a cowboy than his horse. He depends on his reliable steed to help him with his job and to be his friend and all-around partner through thick and thin. Throughout the 1930s, 40s’, and 50s, Roy Rogers was the quintessential cowboy, but a big part of this heroic appeal was his palomino, Trigger. Billed as “the smartest horse in movies,” Trigger was Roy’s riding partner in eighty films and one hundred television shows.

Roy purchased Trigger in 1938 from Hudkins Stables in Los Angeles for $2,500. He knew Trigger was a special horse the moment he saw him trotting through a field. With the help of expert horse trainer Glenn Randall, Roy worked with Trigger to teach him a myriad of tricks, including counting, writing, and bowing to an audience.

Trigger’s fame grew with every new Roy Rogers movies. The horse was a star with four stand-ins. He made $750 a week and received 200 fan letters a month. In 1940 Roy insured the valuable animal for $100,000.

To learn more about Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, and Trigger enter to win now and Happy Trails.